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Two Cents Worth

Two Cents Worth

Two Cents Worth

Leigh Anne Pickup, a Columbia certified physician assistant, recently earned a Certificate of Added Qualifications from the National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants.

Pickup, who works at Maury Regional Medical Center, was awarded a CAQ in emergency medicine — a distinction earned by meeting licensure, education and experience requirements and then passing an exam in the specialty. She is one of only nine certified PAs in the state and 544 nationally to earn a CAQ since the program’s inception in 2011, according to a press release.

There are about 95,000 certified PAs in the U.S. today, according to the release.

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Legal Aid Society adds attorney

The Legal Aid Society of Middle Tennessee and the Cumberlands, a Tennessee non-profit law firm, has added attorney Patricia Jones to its Columbia office.

Prior to joining LAS, Jones was a court appointed attorney and Guardian ad Litem in private practice, representing parents or children in dependency and neglect proceedings. She simultaneously served as a volunteer and pro bono counsel for Legal Aid of East Tennessee. Jones also spent seven years with Community Legal Services of Mid-Florida Inc., first as a staff attorney, then co-leader of its Housing Substantive Law Unit.

Jones earned her juris doctorate from Washington and Lee University School of Law and a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Tennessee-Knoxville. She is a member of the Tennessee Bar and the District of Columbia Bar.

U.S. Department of Agriculture Tennessee Farm Service Agency is reminding agricultural producers that July 15 is the deadline to file an acreage report for spring seeded crops.

Planted acres must be reported to FSA by that date.

The Agricultural Act of 2014, otherwise known as the 2014 Farm Bill, requires producers on a farm to submit annual acreage reports on all cropland.

Acreage reports are considered timely filed when completed by the applicable final crop reporting deadline, which may vary from state to state. Perennial forage crops intended for grazing or haying were required to be reported last fall, whereas perennial forage crops with an intended use of cover only, green manure, left standing, or seed, must be reported by July 15.

Producers should contact their county FSA office if they are uncertain about acreage reporting deadlines. Failed acreage must be reported before the disposition of the crop and that prevented acreage must be reported within 15 calendar days after the final planting date for the applicable crop.

For more information, call (931) 388-1307 ext. 105

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Real estate data released

There were 3,324 homes sold in the month of June, according to figures provided by the Greater Nashville Association of Realtors.

That figure is up 9.4 percent compared to the 3,038 closings reported for June 2013, according to a press release.

Second-quarter numbers are up, with 9,170 closings reported — a 3.3 percent increase from the 8,879 closings reported through the second quarter of 2013. Year-to-date closings for the greater Nashville area are up 3.2 percent with 15,336 compared to the 14,859 closings reported through mid-year 2013.

“The June, second-quarter and year-to-date figures are all up compared to the same periods last year,” GNAR President Hagan Stone said in the release. “Median prices are up nearly $20,000 over last year for single-family residential homes and condominiums. These price increases may encourage some people to sell, which would be helpful since inventory in the Greater Nashville areas remains low.”

The median residential price for a single-family home during June was $222,000, and for a condominium, it was $171,250. Last year’s median residential and condominium prices for June were $205,950 and $159,000, respectively.

There were 3,313 sales pending at the end of June, compared with 3,091 pending sales at this time last year. The average number of days on the market for a single-family home was 65 days.

Inventory at the end of June was 16,157, down from 16,828 in June 2013.

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